Roger Held

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Biography

First, the Arts serve an important function, Dr. Held says. They meet our psychological
needs as human critters and teach us survival skills for navigating through a life
in our culture. As such, they are extremely important to our quality of life and to
our personal development. Consequently, schools and universities, both the repositories
of our cultural history and the mechanisms for cultural evolution, are called upon
to provide strong and inclusive arts programs.

He attended the University of Toledo as an undergraduate where he studied theatre,
worked for the Toledo Museum of Art, and wrote his senior thesis in the Philosophy
Department. He completed a master’s degree in Theatre at the University of Michigan,
and he worked as the lighting designer for U of M television and the opera program.
After returning from tours in Europe and the Far East with Uncle Sam, he entered the
doctoral program at Bowling Green State University. He received both an instructional
and a research grant form the Graduate School and one of two Research Fellowships
in Theatre. UMI Research Press published his dissertation on Fredrick Kiesler’s Theory
and Art.

His first administrative post was Chair of the Arts Division of Elmira College. Subsequently,
he became Executive Artistic Director for the Robidoux Resident Theatre (RRT), Head
of the Directing and Playwriting program, and Director of Utah Playfest at Utah State
University, Director of Theatre at the University of Louisiana Monroe and Head of
the Theatre program at Northwestern State University. He received the Mayor’s Arts
Award while with RRT for the New Play Development Program Development, the Distinguished
Theatre Educator Award form the American College Theatre Festival Region VIII, and
the Service to the Arts Award from the Northwest Louisiana Arts Council. His instructional
series, Playing Period, published by Theatre Arts Video Library, is now available
on DVD. In 2006, he was elected to the Arkansas Educational Theatre Association's
Hall of Fame for work in founding a scholarship program which resulted in $1,000,000
of opportunities for Arkansas students.

As an artist, he has worked on more than one-hundred-fifty productions in a wide range
of genres and styles. He enjoys working most on new plays and serious drama based
on character and ideas. He often seeks to integrate media into productions and use
various technologies to enhance a production. Nonetheless, he says, "Nothing replaces
the trained, smart, and articulate actor in delivering a keen and evocative understanding
of the play."